Prioritized message routing

Abstract

Systems, apparatuses, and methods are described for routing messages in a network. Gateways may be selectively chosen to forward messages from a user device to a network server. Gateways may forward messages based on forwarding priorities for the user device. The forwarding priorities may, for example, indicate a repeat count threshold for a quantity of times the gateway may receive a message from a particular user device before the gateway forwards the message.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method comprising:
 receiving, by a gateway and from a first user device, a message; 
 determining a quantity of times that data corresponding to the message and indicating the message as redundant was received by the gateway; 
 determining, based on information indicating different repeat count thresholds for different user devices, a first repeat count threshold corresponding to the first user device; 
 comparing the quantity of times to the first repeat count threshold; 
 determining that the quantity of times meets or exceeds the first repeat count threshold; and 
 based on determining that the quantity of times meets or exceeds the first repeat count threshold, forwarding the message to a network server. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 storing a database table indicating a plurality of repeat count thresholds respectively corresponding to a plurality of user devices. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the first repeat count threshold corresponding to the first user device comprises determining a type of the first user device. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a battery level of the first user device; and 
 based on comparing the battery level of the first user device to a battery level threshold, decreasing the first repeat count threshold corresponding to the first user device. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a backhaul link bandwidth of the gateway; and 
 based on comparing the backhaul link bandwidth of the gateway to a bandwidth threshold, increasing the first repeat count threshold corresponding to the first user device. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a data rate of the first user device; and 
 based on comparing the data rate of the first user device to a data rate threshold, increasing the first repeat count threshold corresponding to the first user device. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining, based on configuring the gateway to drop messages from the first user device, a first packet loss rate associated with the first user device; and 
 based on comparing the first packet loss rate to a first packet loss rate threshold, decreasing the first repeat count threshold corresponding to the first user device. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 determining, based on configuring the gateway to forward messages from the first user device, a second packet loss rate associated with the first user device; 
 determining, based on the first packet loss rate and the second packet loss rate, a packet loss rate delta associated with the first user device; and 
 based on comparing the packet loss rate delta to a second packet loss rate threshold, decreasing the first repeat count threshold corresponding to the first user device. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a second quantity of times that a second message associated with the first user device was forwarded by the gateway; and 
 based on comparing the second quantity of times to a forwarding time threshold, decreasing the first repeat count threshold corresponding to the first user device. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the quantity of times that data corresponding to the message and indicating the message as redundant was received by the gateway comprises comparing the message with a last message that was received from the first user device. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 dropping a second message based on determining that a quantity of times associated with the second message is less than the first repeat count threshold. 
 
     
     
       12. A method comprising:
 receiving, by a computing device and from a gateway, one or more messages associated with a user device; 
 determining, by the computing device, a repeat count threshold associated with the user device and associated with the gateway, wherein the repeat count threshold indicates a quantity of times that the gateway must receive a message from the user device before forwarding the message to the computing device; and 
 sending, to the gateway, an instruction indicating the repeat count threshold and an identifier of the user device. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 determining a backhaul link bandwidth of the gateway; and 
 based on comparing the backhaul link bandwidth of the gateway to a bandwidth threshold, decreasing the repeat count threshold. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the determining the repeat count threshold is based on determining that the computing device receives duplicate messages from the user device. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 determining a plurality of gateways that forwarded previous messages from the user device; and 
 selecting, from the plurality of gateways, at least one gateway for forwarding subsequent messages from the user device. 
 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 15 , wherein the selecting the at least one gateway comprises:
 determining a backhaul link bandwidth of the at least one gateway; and 
 based on comparing the backhaul link bandwidth of the at least one gateway to a bandwidth threshold, selecting the at least one gateway for forwarding the subsequent messages from the user device. 
 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 determining a plurality of gateways that are located within a threshold distance of the gateway; and 
 based on comparing a quantity of the plurality of gateways to a quantity threshold, disabling the gateway from forwarding subsequent messages. 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17 , wherein the determining the plurality of gateways comprises:
 determining a plurality of messages sets respectively corresponding to the plurality of gateways; and 
 based on comparing a degree of overlap among the plurality of message sets to a degree threshold, determining the plurality of gateways. 
 
     
     
       19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause:
 receiving, by a gateway and from a first user device, a message; 
 determining a quantity of times that data corresponding to the message and indicating the message as redundant was received by the gateway; 
 determining, based on information indicating different repeat count thresholds for different user devices, a first repeat count threshold corresponding to the first user device; 
 comparing the quantity of times to the first repeat count threshold; 
 determining that the quantity of times meets or exceeds the first repeat count threshold; and 
 based on determining that the quantity of times meets or exceeds the first repeat count threshold, forwarding the message to a network server. 
 
     
     
       20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 19 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause:
 dropping a second message based on determining that a quantity of times associated with the second message is less than the first repeat count threshold. 
 
     
     
       21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 19 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause determining the first repeat count threshold based on a type of the first user device.